"Страна Багровых Туч"

Summary: Six men, 2 pilots, 2 geologists, captain and a dessert specialist, venture to the planet Venus to test out a new form of space engine and to explore a radioactive valley that could be a source of all kinds of useful things. Once the group survives the landing they venture out in the direction of the valley. First they find a crash site with a dead explorer inside. Then one of theirs goes missing. They never find a body, just his gun. The captain sprains his ankle and is unable to join others in exploring. But they make it to the valley, they do some exploring, they put up the landing signals, even though one of them is going nuts, the other is going blind, and all of them are suffering from radiation poisoning. With the work completed and them unable to radio the ship they decide to make the long track back the way they came. However, not even half way they fall victim to an underground nuclear blast that destroys their vehicle, kills the captain in said vehicle, and burns one of the teammates. They are now stuck in the middle of nowhere, with no way to contact the ship, and with limited supply of oxygen and water. So they start walking. And walking. And walking. And when they cannot walk anymore they crawl. And they crawl. And they crawl. Eventually, after reaching the landing site they discover that the ship is gone. However, before their long trek began, they saw two flares go up at a different location, and they eventually head that way. The ship had moved, to avoid sinking into the swamp, and they do find it. And they do return back to earth. And all is well.

Ignoring all the innocent things like breathing Venetian air, and plants and animals on both Venus and Mars, and glass cups used in space ships, I love this book. I love this book not for the action or even the characters, but for the most important message. When you are stuck far away from home, you start walking, and you keep walking, and you keep walking until you cannot walk anymore and then you keep walking. Eventually you will have nothing left in you and you will crawl. But you will get there. You will get there not because you are a hero and it's important to get there, you will get there because you can. And if you could and you gave up half way, then it would be unfair. So you keep walking, and keep walking, and you do not quit.

I would be lying if I said I didn't cry while reading that section. It touched me on such a simple fundamental level that it was hard not to relate to. I mean, they weren't being heroes, they were not doing it for money or fame, or love. They were doing it because they could and they would, because you just had to.

Let us start at the very first death and what it meant. The first death we encounter is the Robert Loyd's, the man in the ship that was leaking oxygen. The shocking thing about his death is not the death itself, but the fact that the Hious crew could do nothing more than to listen to him die. No matter what they did, they would not have been able to reach the man in time. And sitting there listening to his last words was difficult. To say the least. Importantly, the man did not die in vain. His last thoughts were to make sure his work lived on, because otherwise it would have been as if he did not exist. So with his last breath he makes sure to open all doors so the crew that would eventually find his ship would be able to enter.

The second death the crew encounters is that of their own team member, Spitsin. His death is vastly different from Loyd's in the way that instead of not being able to help, the team is unable to find him. It would have been much easier for them to just find the body, instead they have to guess if he is hurt and they are just not doing enough to find him. Every minute they spend looking they know he could be dying. Every minute they have to rest, they know could be the last minute he has to spare. They don't find him. They leave only when there is no more hope. And yet you have to think if he did survive, how long did he lay there in hope of rescue that never came.

The third death, while unimportant at first glance is worth mentioning. The death is of the captain Yermakov. Why is his death important? First, it is a freak accident. There is nothing they could have done to prevent it. Just by chance if they stopped a bit to the right or left of their location, they all would have been just fine. I think the fact that the red mass surrounded them made them think that it is avoiding them because of the vehicle being there, as opposed to the center of the explosion. Second, if you think about it, the captain was staying safe. He stayed behind, because of the injured leg. He did not venture out to explore. He should have been fine, while the others that decided to approach an unknown phenomenon should have been hurt. But that's not how things work. Sometimes shit happens. More often than not, that shit is not in your control.

The journey of 150,000 steps is the most important part of the book, for me personally. As much as I was saddened by the earlier deaths, they did not make me tear up as much as Bikov's walk. It is hard to explain this feeling that bubbled up deep inside, as I read about his thirst and fatigue and determination to not quit. Seeing the vehicle destroyed I would have personally chose to lay down and die. I do not think I would have had the emotional and psychological reserves to keep going. But Bikov did! He had the stubbornness to keep putting one foot in front of the other. He wasn't doing it for fame or glory, not for the honor of motherland or gigantic monetary payout, he was doing it because it would be a shame for him to lay down and die, when he could have made it.

“Надо идти потому, что они дойдут, наверняка дойдут, без всякого сомнения дойдут, и будет очень обидно, если они лягут здесь и заснут... хотя они могли дойти. Это будет ужасно обидно. И поэтому надо.”

The other reason he kept walking is because he knew what it was like for a team member to go missing and not know what happened to him. He didn't want to put Krutikov, and Krayuhin back on Earth, into the same position as they have been with Spitsin. To know that your friends are out there, alive, in need of help, and you not knowing how you could help them.

Bikov's determination and stubbornness is not the only thing that made me cry. It was the way he was determined to get Yurkovskii back to the ship. In one instance he tells him that he does not give a shit about him as a person. He does not want to save him out of some altruistic thoughts. He wants him back on the ship because all of the data they collected burned up with the vehicle, and he needs someone that remembers even a portion of that data to share it with others. It is such a concrete reason that you cannot argue about it philosophically. You cannot say, letting him die would improve your chances of getting out alive. He has data, that data needs to be on the ship. Period. End of story. Now, move!

— Я хочу спать, я очень устал. Дай слово, что во время сна ты не удерешь...

Юрковский молчал.

— Я очень хочу спать, очень... Ты не даешь мне заснуть, Володя...

Юрковский молчал упрямо, только с ненавистью сопел в микрофон.

— Дай мне заснуть, Володя!.. Мы поговорим обо всем, когда я проснусь. Прошу, Владимир Сергеевич...

That is such a heartbreaking moment. Yurkovskii wants to sacrifice himself so Bikov, who is dragging Daug literally on his back, has a better chance of survival. Yet the very act and desire to sacrifice himself is impeding Bikov in his determination to get them all out alive.

Finally, the moment Bikov emerges from the brush and buts helmet first into Lrutikov you can almost feel the tight grip being released on your heart. We followed Bikov through all of his 150,000 steps, and we were there when he came to the landing site only to discover the ship not being there. We can only imagine the overwhelming emotion, once he realizes that by far this was not the finish line. And even more so, he has no reason to think that the new location is a location of the ship, and not something completely unrelated. In the beginning of his journey he was sure the ship was there and he just had to make it, when he starts out for the new location he is not even certain there is a finish. But he is stubborn! Blind, dehydrated, starving, bloodied, but he damn well made it!

I don't think this book is about space exploration and awesomeness, or the forests on Mars and plant life on Venus. This book is about determination. This book is about doing your job, no matter how boring, with possible no payoff in the end, but doing it because you have to do it. Someone has to do the boring job of collecting specimens. Someone has to fill the petri dishes and measure bacterial growth. It's boring. It won't get your name into history books. But you do it because you know that because of the work YOU do, someone will discover something to benefit humanity. And it's OK if their name makes it into the textbook, but not yours. You, your fame, your name, your personality, is not as important as the possible benefit you can bring to society.

So get out there. One day at a time. One step at a time. Keep going no matter if you have 150,000 steps or 1,500,000 steps. You keep going. Because it would be such a shame if you could have made it but instead quit.